Uncharted 4 Review: A True Grand Finale To An Unforgettable Series

Fans of Uncharted have been waiting for the release of the final installment in the series, and now that it’s finally here, it’s almost too real to comprehend. And as expected, the final game was probably the best one of them all.

Where do I even begin? The story in Uncharted 4 was just as riveting as past Uncharted games, if not the most engrossing of them all. Because here you have Nate who has settled down with Elena and living the life he thought he wanted, but we all know there was something missing. And as if that biting notion is answered, Nate’s brother shows up out of the blue and asks for his help, and thus the adventure begins.

As with all other Uncharted games, the story was very much like watching a movie. Every scene seemed to seamlessly fall into the other and I couldn’t look away the entire time I was playing. Naughty Dog did a great job in introducing Nate’s brother Sam by highlighting their history together and giving us a glimpse into what growing up a Drake was really like. And it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. You can check out the trailer below.

It made me think about other video game action-adventure heroes like Lara Croft; what were they going to do once they retired from the dangerous life of adventure? Would she get married and have a few kids or dedicate the rest of her life to rescuing animals? So with Uncharted 4, we got to peer into that idea of life after adventure, and just how Nathan Drake struggled with the idea of leaving it all behind.

Sam, Nathan and Sully team up in this installment to locate a pirate’s stash of treasure—and not because they wanted to, either. But it’s no surprise that Nathan can’t seem to get away from his treasure-hunting way of life.

My first thought I had when I started playing Uncharted 4 was how smooth the controls were. I’ve reviewed a lot of games since starting at CinemaBlend and something I’ve always found that developers struggle to get right are the controls. Because of old habits, I was half expecting the analog controls to jerk too much or for one of my buttons to not do what it’s supposed to. But Nate effortlessly scaled walls and jumped from edge to edge with no problems. Even when Nate ran, I wasn’t bumping into walls or getting caught on corners—it all felt so smooth.

I’ve already seen Uncharted 4 praised for its beautiful art style and high-end graphics, but you know I had to see it for myself, and what I saw was breathtaking. The game is absolutely gorgeous. You can see far out into the landscapes, but the detail up close is so intricate and precise. There is so much detail. Even while you are wandering around Nate’s house and you walk into the bedroom and the bathrooms, the small details of the labels on things like a little container of Vaseline is so carefully crafted so that I know it’s a bottle of Vaseline without being given the name on the bottle. It’s these little details that really make me feel like the developer cared about the product they were handing to me. They cared about it so much that they made sure to include every single detail to make the gameplay experience as heightened as possible.

The relationship between Nate and his brother Sam is one that is far too familiar. The younger sibling (Nate) takes after his older brother (Sam) despite Sam always getting into all sorts of trouble. Our younger siblings always want to do what we are doing, whether or not it’s good or bad. I say this because I am an older sibling and I know just what that feels like, to have all of the eyes on you all of the time—to set the example. But no matter how much trouble Sam seemed to find himself in, he did whatever he could to look out for his younger brother Nate. When it comes to creating characters in video games, it’s about creating characters that are relatable. And this relationship between Sam and Nate was particularly easy for me to relate to as I’m sure it was for many other people. While it was a cliche example of a brotherly relationship, it was one I felt close to and immediately emotionally connected with those characters. When a player makes an emotional connection with a character, it makes the gameplay all the more meaningful. It’s the same as directing or movie or writing a book; when you make one of your characters relatable and you cause the reader or audience to feel something for them, it suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. And Naughty Dog did that with Sam and Nate.

While I tried my absolute hardest to find something I didn’t like about Uncharted 4, I came up empty every single time. There isn’t a game that quenches my thirst for a lifetime of adventure, for a story that completely stuns and consumes and for characters that move me emotionally like Uncharted 4 did. And that’s why Uncharted 4 will be the very first game I’ve ever given a perfect score to.

This review based on a PS4 copy of the content provided by the publisher.